SlashGear reports that Microsoft has admitted that the x86 apps will not run on ARM platforms. ARM processors and Windows 8 are expected to pair up in notebooks and likely inside tablets as well.

Rather than native support for x86 apps on ARM platforms, the developers will have to port their titles to a new architecture called Metro UI. This architecture will run on both ARM and x86 platforms including laptops and more. The confusion over the confirmation that x86 apps won't run on ARM comes from a statement that Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky made at an analyst chat this week.

During that analyst Q&A Sinofsky had noted that legacy apps from Windows 7 would work on Windows 8. That was taken to mean Windows 8 on both x86 and ARM platforms. He also said, "[Microsoft] been very clear since the first CES demos and forward that the ARM product won’t run any x86 applications."

At least part of the reason that x86 apps won't run on ARM Windows 8 machines is that the apps for x86 aren't designed with power frugality in mind and security is also a concern. Sinofsky said, "If we do let them run, we just brought the perceived negatives of some of the ecosystem. So, people say, great, now it’s easy to port viruses and malware and we’ll port those." Microsoft did announce this week that 500,000 developers had downloaded Windows 8 so far.

"We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs